Pot dispensary crackdown by feds includes Paramount locations

A federal crackdown on marijuana dispensaries operating on a for-profit basis in violation of California law is now targeting establishments in 11 Los Angeles County cities - including Paramount, authorities say.

"As part of the ongoing federal enforcement actions against the commercial marijuana industry in California," federal authorities this week filed a pair of asset forfeiture lawsuits against two Santa Fe Springs properties that house three dispensaries, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles.

Officials also sent out warning letters to property owners and operators of 34 other dispensaries doing business or recently closed in Santa Fe Springs, Whittier, South El Monte, La Mirada, Diamond Bar, Artesia, Paramount, South Gate, Commerce, Agoura Hills and Malibu, U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte said in a statement.

Search warrants were served on Santa Fe Springs on Wednesday at the Tri-City Patients Association and the Canna-America Collective, at a Rosecrans Avenue property named in one of the lawsuits, Birotte said.

The other lawsuit targets the owner of a Telegraph Road property where a dispensary continues to operate after receiving a cease-and-desist order from the city, he said. It is operated by a man with a prior state court conviction for possessing marijuana for sale, according to Birotte.

According to federal officials, the targeted establishments are not just violating federal law, which generally does not recognize the use of pot for any reason, but they also have been flouting California law.

"Under federal law, the distribution of marijuana ... is prohibited except under very limited circumstances not applicable here. The government is informed and believes that at all times relevant to this complaint, the operation of the marijuana stores on the defendant property was not (and is not) permitted under California law," according to the lawsuits filed in Los Angeles federal court Tuesday.

Prosecutors contend that California's compassionate-use laws do not permit dispensaries to operate on a for-profit basis.